


In The Witching Hours

by Meteor Shower Scatter Shot (Minibot_Love)



Category: iron leaguers, shippu iron leaguer, 疾風！アイアンリーガー | Shippu! Iron Leaguer
Genre: Angst, Fluff, Gen, Post Series, pre OVA
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-17
Updated: 2015-12-17
Packaged: 2018-05-07 08:01:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,214
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5449283
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Minibot_Love/pseuds/Meteor%20Shower%20Scatter%20Shot
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Magnum sits in the dark reflecting about his past. Bull Armor, Topjoy, and Ryuuken have a plan to make Magnum smile.</p>
            </blockquote>





	In The Witching Hours

"Take that thing off, you'll give us away." Bull Armor's grousing from around the corner stopped Magnum in his stride down the hall, antennae pricked at the hushed voices murmuring to each other. Most of the team had already turned in for sleep and the hour was growing later and later but like most nights lately he'd found himself restless. Ruri and Meckel both had asked him not to wander up to the roof when it was raining out of fear of lightning striking the leaguer, so with the weather keeping him inside and his mind keeping him awake, Magnum Ace had taken to wandering the halls of the team headquarters.

It was a small place, compared to Dark Team's headquarters. Downstairs there was the garage where Meckel worked, storage for equipment that had since been expanded in order to keep all the other sports' necessities that had been forced upon them. Attached there was Meckel's apartment, never wanting to be far from the garage should an emergency arise during a lengthy repair. Upstairs were offices and viewing rooms over the practice fields, the communal room where their recharge beds were kept, oil storage and showers and bathrooms. Above that Ruri and Edmond lived in what seemed to be a comfortable apartment, three bedrooms and  living space, kitchen and whatnot, Magnum wasn't entirely sure what all went into human houses and he'd never quite wedged himself in through the narrow doors upstairs to investigate.

" _Sorry, neh_ ," Topjoy voice was a little harder to hush than Bull's, much like his bouncy personality. A rustle of fabric made Magnum more curious, back pressed to the wall and easing to the corner to peek around it. Topjoy held a band of cloth loosely, simple and white with lettering in black marker. From this distance he couldn't quite make out what was written on it, obscured by the basket leaguer's fingers and the huddling trio. "Me was just getting fired up for our big mission!"

"Maybe it would be best to be a little less ... enthusiastic?" Ryuuken tried to mediate. He spoke in such soft, hushed tones normally that hearing him whisper was like trying to hear a slight breeze. "We don't want to scare him, we want to cheer him up."

"But if he gets away we'll have to chase him!" Topjoy countered, hands balled into eager fists and bouncing on his heels.

"No, we shouldn't chase him," Ryuuken chuckled softly, reaching a hand out to still the bouncing by adding weight to his shoulder. "We don't want him to fear us. If we miss this opportunity, then there will be others that will arise. We need only be patient."

"I sort of agree with Topjoy," Bull rumbled, earning a surprised glance from Ryuuken. "Magnum is difficult to find alone, and if he slips away he may start to avoid us. We really only have one chance at this."

"But we don't want to scare him," the karate leaguer protested. "Three against one suddenly assaulting him may startle him - he might think we're trying to hurt him. I think tackling is a bit out of line... besides, what if we hurt him accidentally? We should be patient and wait for the opportunity, then be gentle with him. We don't know how fragile he may be feeling right now."

"Bah, he's so cagey," Bull Armor grumbled, a foot scuffing at the floor. "I wish he would just talk to us instead of us sneaking around at night plotting like this."

"Me..." Topjoy withdrew into himself, fingertips prodding together nervously. "Me might ... know what Magnum is upset about. Me think."

Magnum stiffened slightly in his hiding place. He had all but forgotten that Topjoy had been given a copy of his memories, made privy to his secret past.

"Then you should tell us!" Bull Armor hissed, clearly frustrated with the dour mood Magnum had settled into lately, but Ryuuken held up a hand between the football and basketball leaguers. "No," Ryuuken said firmly, shaking his head. "If Magnum does not want to tell us, then we should not ask for information from others. I trust Magnum, and I suspect this is something very personal or he would have brought it up sooner."

" _Sorry-ne_ ," Topjoy murmured, rubbing the back of his neck. "It is ... kind of personal, I think."

Bull Armor deflated, and around the corner so did Magnum, nearly weakened with relief. It was good to know they were being respectful of his secrecy, though it clearly frustrated them to be left in the dark like this.

"We're going to miss our chance if we keep standing around talking," Bull Armor pointed out. "If we hurry, we can still catch him before he goes to bed."

"Maybe it would be simpler to simply invite him to spend time with us?" Ryuuken suggested, but both Topjoy and Bull Armor shook their heads.

"He always brushes us off," Topjoy quailed softly, hands spread in a gesture of hopelessness. "He always has somewhere else to be."

"And instead he goes up on the roof alone, or out to pitch in the dark," Bull grumped, nudging the other two forward. "Let's go now - he's probably still on the roof."

"But it's cloudy tonight," Ryuuken pointed out, not budging even slightly despite Bull's pushing. "There's no stars out with the clouds in the way, and I didn't see him on the practice field. The lights are all turned off."

"Well he's not in bed," Topjoy wondered aloud, "and if he's not on the field or up on the roof, then where would he be?"

"The showers maybe?"

Ryuuken's face reddened suddenly at the suggestion. "I don't think us jumping him in the bath is exactly... appropriate."

What were they up to? Magnum reasoned to himself that as the topic of their conversation it wasn't rude for him to listen in, but backed away from the corner and hurried down the hall regardless as they grew near. They said they didn't want to scare him - a point that Ryuuken had stressed and fretted over - nor did they want to do him harm, but they were still trying to get him alone. To cheer him up? What could they be planning that they would need to corner him for?

It seemed a strange trio of conspirators, if he were honest: Topjoy was more likely to go off on his own plan to make someone happy than to turn to others for help, but apparently he'd brushed the spring-legged leaguer off one too many times; Bull Armor was not usually one for such shenanigans, cautious about hurting people and a little more mature than many on the team with his past; and Ryuuken, above all else, was hopelessly shy and gentle. The fact that it had taken Coach Edmond threatening to leave him behind to coax him into throwing a punch even at half power was very telling of his reluctance to do harm.

So they weren't out to hurt him. They had said as much and their personalities didn't seem the malicious types. Topjoy was always trying to cheer people up, so that came as no surprise, and perhaps Bull Armor wished to repay him in this way for getting him back onto the field instead of continuing to suffer his guilt and memories. Ryuuken was the odd man out - Magnum pulled himself up onto the kitchen's countertop and sat to think, pulling a bottle of oil from the shelf to keep him company. Ryuuken was rarely given to mischeif unless Ruri was leading the way, and even then it was an enamoured shepherd puppy chasing after his flock simply to keep Ruri out of danger and fret over her.

Now that he considered it, Ryuuken was especially prone to fretting. He worried after the original team members, the handful of identical lilac bots that Silky brooded over. Ryuuken had always been with them before Windy and Ace himself and the rest had come along, and none of them had gone on their little tour around the world. Ryuuken had probably fretted about his injured family being left behind at every opportunity granted to him, Magnum realized, staring down at the bottle of oil in his hand. Ruri had been eager for the adventure, and Ryuuken had been forced to choose between his injured family and his beloved Ruri running off without him - of course he'd chosen Ruri, but Magnum wondered if it gnawed at him.

Ace could have gone back to Dark. He could have gone back and lived with his brothers again, since they refused to join him in Silver Castle. He could have said goodbye to the team and taken his chances and gone to be with Gallant and Justice again as a family.

But he too had chased after Ruri and left his family behind. His brothers were still injured in some ways, their memories still partitioned he was certain, but they knew him and they had refused him. Had they simply grown apart, then? Some days he fantasized about being Silver Frontier again, rejoining with his older siblings as the Silver Brothers once more. But... Silver Frontier was another life, in another time, and perhaps Justice and Gallant were the same way. Fighter Spirits and Fighter Arrow were different people, in a different time, and the past should perhaps be left in the past...

Perhaps Ryuuken _would_ understand, if only he could find the resolve to explain to him.

"Magnum?" Ryuuken's quiet voice nearly startled him out of his musings and he dropped his half-empty oil to cling to the counter so he didn't fall. The conspiring trio had found him, but hesitated in the doorway looking worried. Magnum wiped hastily at his eyes and hopped down to retrieve his oil. "Are you alright?" Ryuuken asked softly, approaching him with some caution to lay a hand on his shoulder while Topjoy fetched a towel to clean the spill.

"You should be sleeping at this hour." The response was weak, even to his own audios, and he kept his head tipped so the brim of his hat would hide his damp eyes.

"So should you," Bull snorted, plopping a hand on his other shoulder. "We were looking for you - we've been worried."

"I'm fine, really, you don't need to concern yourselves with me" he lied, even as Ryuuken's arm shifted slowly to embrace him, cautious and loose to give him time to say no or pull away, but instead he found himself sinking into the tentative embrace. Ryuuken was warm and tender, arms settling solidly around Magnum's shoulders not to restrain so much as to cradle the pitcher against his chest.

"Magnum." Where he may have expected admonishment, or even scolding, Ryuuken's voice was low and soft and full of sympathy. His hands stroked tender lines across the back of his head, an easy motion that seemed familiar in both its ease of execution and the sensation on Magnum's helm.

"I'm fine," he tried again, but his throat felt tight. The oil slid from his fingers again, too listless to keep his grip, but Bull was there this time to catch it and set it aside. His hands, too, were soft and full of concern laying on his shoulders from behind.

"It's alright, Magnum." Like Ryuuken, Bull's voice was devoid of anger, filled instead with sympathy and concern. His fingers tightened gently in a reassuring squeeze, signaling his intent to stay.

"I'm _fine_." Magnum Ace could barely hear himself force the words out, burrowed between the two leaguers and starting to tremble. Topjoy squeezed himself between the other two shamelessly, wrapping his arms around Magnum's middle in the least subtle hug. 

"I'm f-" The words died in his throat, choked down by the sob that bubbled up in their place. "I'm fine," Magnum gasped weakly, shoulders quivering and hands grasping at solid, steady Ryuuken in return. Tears fell despite his best efforts, and as he felt the karate leaguer's hand guide his head to his shoulder he relented his struggle and fell apart.

Cradled between the trio, he realized he felt safe to break down like this: Ryuuken would catch him, Bull Armor would mend him, and Topjoy would lift his spirits - that's why they had been seeking him out, wasn't it? They were part of his team, and he was part of _their_ team as well. It was distressingly easy to forget that the door swung both ways.

He thought he needed to be strong for them, to protect them from the harms that he knew were lurking on the horizon. Now with the danger passed, though, it hadn't occured to him that perhaps they could be or wanted to be strong for him in return.

Topjoy nuzzled against his back while he cried, arms tightening slightly where they'd wound around his middle. "We want to help," Topjoy murmured softly when the sobs had subsided a bit. "We want you to be _happy-ne_."

"You're not alone, Magnum Ace," Bull Armor reminded him, leaning his helm until it touched against the baseball leaguer's shoulder. "I was alone when you came to me, and you brought me to this team and you built this family - yet you keep your distance from us. You're _not_ alone, Magnum. You don't have to _be_ alone."

"Please tell us what's wrong," Ryuuken pleaded, hands stroking tenderly against his helm. "When you're ready to, that is," he amended softly, pressing his cheek to the side of Magnum's head.

In the middle of his tears, a laugh welled up. Watery and weak, it was more self depriciating than mirthful, and Magnum gingerly snuggled deeper into the trio's protective hold on him. "I guess, when you always look back," he sniffled, lifting his head from Ryuuken's shoulder to dry his eyes, "it's hard to see what's in front of you."

Concerned, curious eyes stared back at him when he glanced up at the trio, and Ryuuken's arms obligingly loosened their snug hold when he pulled back with a shaky sigh. "I... have two older brothers: Silver Justice and Silver Gallant." His gaze dropped down, and a shiver ran through him when he failed to force back the next round of tears. His hand hastily wiped at his eyes, tilting his head down to hide under the brim of his hat. "Though now they are called Fighter Spirits and Fighter Arrow."

"Those mysterious guys from the finals?" Bull questioned, he and Ryuuken seeming surprised. Topjoy had his memories so it was not new information that he had family, but it still took him off guard to learn the brothers from his memories were the Dark Players they had fought against.

"The same," Magnum clarified, drawing in a shuddering breath. "Dark recalled them and gave them back some of their memories... some of them... I think. But when I asked them to leave Dark and what we knew at the time to be certain death for them, they refused me. Even now, they still refuse me. And I..."

"You miss them," Bull Armor finished for him, his gaze soft and understanding. Ryuuken and Topjoy too seemed to understand his plight and hold no ill will towards him. "Of course you miss your family," the football leaguer continued, strong hands gripping Magnum's shoulders reassuringly, "not a day goes by that I don't miss mine too. I think Jet Setter is happier now, though, so that makes me happy to know he's doing alright."

"Me miss my team too," Topjoy admitted softly, fingers pressing together, "but Silver Castle is my family more than the team I was built with ever was. I love it here, and I love _you_!" The second part was accentuated with a bouncy hug around Magnum's middle that earned another watery laugh.

"We understand, Magnum," Ryuuken murmured softly, a small smile canting his lips as he reached his hands out in offering to him. "I know we are no replacement for your brothers, nor should we be, but we think of you as family and want to be here for you as family should - and we hope that you might think the same of us."

So many of the Silver Castle members could understand his plight, Magnum realized, scrubbing his eyes dry once more and reaching to take Ryuuken's hands to be pulled in for a hug. Even Ruri had spent so long thinking her father lost, living with Edmond in his stead - a decent alternative, but never a replacement for the original. Gradually, Magnum melted in Ryuuken's steady arms, some of the pain finally eased away, some of the cold loneliness banished by the warm realization of his new family.

"Thank you, everyone." Eyes dry and vents steady once more, Ryuuken's helm rested gently against the side of Magnum's. "Do you feel better now?" Ryuuken asked quietly. Magnum nodded and offered a small smile to the trio, thinking they would send him to bed now that the tears had passed, but his smile seemed to spark some recognition in Topjoy and the pink mech grinned. "Ne, ne," he stage-whispered to the others, "we almost forgot why we were looking for Magnum!"

Bull Armor perked at the reminder, and Ryuuken's arms suddenly weren't as yielding as they had been before. Nervous at the change in mood and the mischeif in Topjoy's grin, Magnum tried to wiggle away but the karate leaguer quickly caught hold of him and captured his arms in a lock away from his sides.

"What are you doing?" Magnum pulled against Ryuuken's rock solid hold, but despite the small, apologetic smile on his face he didn't budge.

"Making you _happy-ne_!" Topjoy declared before pouncing on the ex soldier and tickling. Magnum yelped in surprise at the assault, bursting into startled laughter and struggling for escape against Ryuuken's firm hold, legs flailing trying to push Topjoy away. Bull Armor joined in soon after, the trio grinning broadly as they wrung bright laughter from the pitcher, the first they had heard almost since they'd met the bot.

Despite his struggling under their playful ministrations, Magnum relaxed and let himself laugh. Even once the others had backed off and Ryuuken's arms around him were merely to help him keep his balance, he laughed aloud for a while longer. He'd almost forgotten how good it felt, and though the ache for his brothers lingered - as it likely always would - the warm affection from his team made it feel safe to release some of his inhibitions and be filled with mirth.

Finally it subsided and the four of them together ushered off to their recharge cradles to sleep. Topjoy and Bull Armor fell into theirs, exhausted by the late hour, but Ryuuken lingered long enough to give Magnum's fingers a reassuring squeeze and make sure he wasn't going to sneak back out before settling in to his own.

It would hurt a while longer, Magnum sighed as the magnets pulled his back flush to the recharge pad and his visor came down over his eyes, but perhaps now when the aching thoughts of his brothers came it would be tempered by the warm affection for his team and his family. He smiled slightly to himself at the thought as sleep claimed him.


End file.
